A double monastery is a single monastery containing both monks and nuns under one superior. One of the primary benefits of having a double community was that it solved the problem of providing the nuns with a priest, as there would be at least one or two already within the monastery. The origins of this type of monasticism date all the way back to the 4th century beginnings of monasticism in the eastern half of the Roman Empire. One of the earliest of these was a community founded by Macrina the Younger at Annesi.* Double monasteries are known to have existed in the Byzantine Empire until its fall to the Turks in 1453.

The earliest double monasteries in Western Europe date to the 6th century. They spread quickly in the Frankish kingdoms, in what is now Ireland.** Anglo-Saxon England had several double monasteries with quite powerful abbesses.*** Double monasteries remained a common form of monasticism in Western Europe until the Second Council of Nicea banned them in 787, largely due to incidents and suspicion of inappropriate behaviour between monks and nuns.

This was not the end. Double monasticism experienced several revivals across Western Europe, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Order of Fontevrault in France and the Gilbertine Order in England were both founded as orders of double monasteries. Several Benedictine male communities became unofficial double monasteries after the anchoress they had given a cell ended up with a community of nuns around her. The early double monasteries were almost uniformly headed by an abbess rather than an abbot, as were the Byzantine communities and the Order of Fontevrault. Other double houses were generally headed by an abbot. They also differed in how much contact was allowed between monks and nuns. In all cases the two groups lived separately, but some communities allowed them to intermingle in the church, while others forbade all contact except through a small window in a dividing wall. Though communities differed widely, they share a history of prestige and suspicion. * Her brother Basil the Great would go on to write a rule for double monasteries and has since receive most of the credit for this type of monasticism. This left Macrina’s foundation to be mostly forgotten and double monasticism in the Byzantine Empire to be known as “Basilian monasticism.” **There seems to be some connection between the two given the activity of Irish missionaries in Frankish territories at the time, but just how strong the influence was is unclear. ***An example of this would be Hilda of Whitby, whose double monastery hosted the Synod of Whitby, one of the more important church councils of the 7th century.